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Benefit scams, especially involving health plans, grabbed the lion’s share of union corruption stories in 2016. Scammers came from outside as well as from inside the unions, a fact highlighting the need for trustees to exercise greater due diligence in choosing outside parties. There were also the usual cases of six-figure (or more) embezzlement and fraud against union general funds. Labor officials, meanwhile, expanded their misguided campaign to enact a $15 an hour minimum wage. They also tried to undo Right to Work laws in three states, temporarily achieving success in two by way of court action. And a deadlocked Supreme Court enabled state and local public-sector union bosses to retain their authority to coerce dues payments from unwilling workers. In other words, there was plenty to write about. Here were the ten stories that mattered most:

Some House Republicans — apparently led by Rep. Robert Goodlatte (R-VA) — are attempting to emasculate the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The House Conference reportedly voted last night 119-74 to place control of OCE under the Ethics Committee, effectively destroying it. The full House is scheduled today to vote on the larger Rules package of which Goodlatte’s amendment is part.

This is an incredibly stupid start to the new Congress, and badly undercuts President-elect Trump’s efforts to “drain the swamp.”

Media reports suggest that Speaker Paul Ryan opposed the move, but there have been reasons for skepticism about the House leadership’s commitment to OCE. It doesn’t matter what happened last night. It is now up to Ryan to save OCE. He must act with strength and decisiveness.

OCE was established in 2008 and is slightly more independent that the Ethics Committee because its board is comprised of former members … Read More ➡

After a tumultuous election year in which homosexual activist groups targeted battleground state North Carolina over a law that stifled inappropriate public restroom usage for self-declared transgenders, two northern California tech companies are strategizing with LGBT activists to further immerse themselves in state policies and politics over gay issues and religious freedom.

Liberal Web site Buzzfeed reported last month that San Jose-based PayPal and San Francisco-based Salesforce co-hosted a summit on November 16 – in conjunction with groups including Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal and the ACLU – to strategize against expected legislation in 2017 that does not comport with their radical agenda. The online news site said up to 100 leaders from business and LGBT groups attended the meeting.… Read More ➡

The violence may be a memory, but there is now a welcome reminder of the consequences. Last Thursday, December 8, a St. Louis County, Mo. jury found a young black male, Jeffrey Williams, guilty on six criminal counts related to the malicious gun wounding of two unnamed police officers in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson in March 2015. The incident occurred during a street rally organized by the radical social media network, Black Lives Matter, to protest the shooting death of an “unarmed” black male, Michael Brown, by a white Ferguson cop the previous August. A grand jury months later had decided the evidence was insufficient to indict the officer, an announcement that triggered destructive rioting. Reprehensible as the rioting and shootings were, the Obama administration tacitly encouraged this behavior.

If any one event underscores the futility of achieving a ‘post-racial’ society in contemporary America, the death of Michael … Read More ➡

“Google will pay very well and the benefits will be wonderful, but any conservative who takes this job will have to sell his or her soul. Anyone with an ounce of personal integrity should not even consider it.”

“Google is not trying to hire a free-market advocate because it suddenly believes in free markets. It is a monopoly and it intends to stay that way. Google wants to buy off and defuse critics who have been emboldened by the election of Donald Trump.”

“There is no, new conservative-friendly Google. The company’s plan to hire a conservative liaison and more Republican lobbyists is a continuation of Washington business as usual that Trump … Read More ➡

National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), today sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump responding to Silicon Valley’s recent suggestions that President-elect Trump “engage” Silicon Valley’s tech elite for key government posts, while preserving many of the digital initiatives started by the Obama Administration.

Trump is holding a meeting with tech leaders next week. With the exception of billionaire Facebook board member and Trump supporter Peter Theil, it is unclear whether representatives of Facebook, Google, Twitter and other tech giants will be there.

In its letter, NLPC slams Silicon Valley’s recommendations as a sure way to undercut Trump’s commitment to “drain the swamp” of corporate lobbyists and DC powerbroker influence, while undermining his commitment to restoring American jobs and the economy.

The letter states that Silicon Valley initiatives like the Office of Science and Technology Policy, 18F and the U.S. Digital Service, which were created or expanded under Obama’s leadership, … Read More ➡

The Daily Signalincluded this reaction to President-elect Trump’s hints yesterday that he is backing away from further legal pursuit of the Clintons:

“It was a premature decision [not to continue investigating Clinton] because we don’t know what evidence on the email server or Clinton Foundation will emerge,” said Peter Flaherty, president of the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group, told The Daily Signal.

“It shouldn’t be the call of the White House anyway, but should be left up to the new attorney general—and IRS commissioner—whether to investigate,” Flaherty continued, noting the IRS should look into the nonprofit status of the Clinton Foundation. “Prosecuting Hillary might seem like piling on from a political sense, but if she broke the law, this is a decision that should be left to law enforcement.”

NLPC has exposed through the media four separate instances of apparent pay to play involving the … Read More ➡

For decades, unions in America have asserted what they see as their right to extract dues from non-joining workers. Lately, they’ve gotten creative in challenging state Right to Work laws that protect such workers. Earlier this month they lost a ballot initiative in South Dakota to overturn that state’s longstanding law. In Wisconsin the story was different. Union leaders persuaded a county judge in April to overturn a similar law enacted last year at the urging of Gov. Scott Walker, though the State did manage to obtain a hold on the order. And in West Virginia, labor chieftains in August won an injunction to suspend Right to Work legislation passed months earlier over Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s veto. All this carries extra significance in the wake of the September death of Reed Larson, long the embodiment of the Right to Work principle.

“I had to answer a lot of questions from my daughters, from our employees. They were all in mourning. Our employees were all crying. The question that they are asking, especially those who are not white ‘Are we safe?’, women are asking ‘Are we safe?’, LGBT people are asking ‘Are we safe?’.”

Nooyi went on to “assure everybody in the U.S. that they are safe.” Of course, the only purpose to such an assurance is to allow such an inane and inflammatory statement to be made in the first place. Nooyi’s comments are inappropriate for the CEO of a major corporation. She should resign.

This is not the first time Nooyi has made controversial statements that betray a particular mindset. In 2005, she gave a commencement speech in which she asserted that our nation’s foreign policy has been characterized … Read More ➡